Red Bull is dominating the grid in a way never seen before in the sport. There have been quite a few teams that dominated Formula One for a long period of time and won many championships. For instance, Ferrari is the most iconic and most successful F1 team in history. No other team has won more championships – constructor and Driver’s. The most successful collaboration the Maranello team had with a racer was Michael Schumacher. Moreover, the German great won five championships with them on the trot. However, in the last 15 years, the two teams that dominated Formula 1 have been Mercedes and Red Bull. From 2010 to 2013, the Austrian team was unbeatable, thanks to Sebastian Vettel, who was steering the wheel.
But then came Mercedes at the top of the grid as they dominated the period called the turbo-hybrid era. From 2014 to 2021, the Silver Arrows never lost a constructor title to any team. Like every era has one dominant racer, in the “Mercedes Era,” there was Lewis Hamilton, who won six titles during that period. However, when there is a change in regulation, usually, there is a shift in dominance. Since 2022, Red Bull is at the top of the grid again. This time, the most dominant racer is Max Verstappen. Thanks to the Dutch racers, the Austrian outfit has lately become the most successful team since 2005.
Red Bull Surpassed Mercedes To Become The Most Dominant Team Since 2005
Why has the hegemony of Red Bull and Max Verstappen been so different from that of the other greats in the past? Every period in Formula 1 has one of a kind driver or a team that breaks all sorts of records. Since the introduction of the ground effect regulations, it has been hard for other teams to catch up with Red Bull. In 2022, Christian Horner’s team won 17 races. Max Verstappen won 15 Grands Prix himself. His teammate Sergio Perez won a couple of races in 2022. The same thing repeated for Checo in 2023. He won a couple of GPs again. But Max Verstappen went on to do a little bit better than the previous season. He won 19 races in 2023.
If fans assume that adding more races to the F1 calendar gives other teams a chance to catch up to Max and Red Bull, the current champions have proven them wrong. In the ongoing season, Verstappen has already won four of the first five races. Lately, in the Chinese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen won the 117th race for the Austrian outfit. As a result, Red Bull surpassed Mercedes’s 116 GP wins and became the most dominant team in the sport since 2005. Prior to the Chinese GP, Mercedes and the Milton Keynes outfit were equally the most dominant teams in the last 19 years. But now Christian Horner’s team is enjoying that position. Moreover, it was just a matter of time, the way things were going.
Statistics Prove That Horner’s Team Has Enjoyed Staggering Success In The Sport
Red Bull F1 team came into existence in 2005 from the former team called Jaguar. But who knew then, in the next 19 years, they would enjoy the most race wins in the grid? Christian Horner remained as the team principal. But a lot of credit goes to the car designer Adrian Newey. In the cost cap era, he was the mastermind behind the RB18 (2022), RB19 (2023), and RB20 (current season) cars. From 2022 to 2023, the Austrian outfit won an incredible 38 races. Add four more to it after the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.
Clearly, this level of race win percentage in a single season has never been seen before in Formula 1. Previously, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel had the record for most race wins in a single season for a driver (13). Max Verstappen broke that record in 2022 with 15 wins. Then, last year, he broke his own record, winning 19 times. 2024 has an added race in the F1 Calendar. Who knows how many races the three-time champion will win this year?
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